Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me - Volume 5 - Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2

“You’re drinking Oronamin C? I didn’t know you were into energy drinks.”

On Friday, the day of our end-of-term ceremony, I spotted a familiar brown bottle on Runa’s desk and asked her about it. The ceremony had already ended and we were hanging out in the noisy classroom.

“Huh?! Wh-What do you mean?”

For some reason, Runa was flustered. It seemed like her awkwardness when it came to me was still ongoing...

“W-Well, you know, we’re getting our exam results back and all. I figured I’d get fired up for it,” she said.

And with that, she took the bottle and downed what little was left of its contents.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of people who fire themselves up for getting test results,” I said with a smile. “I’d understand if it was for the exams themselves, though.”

Runa turned red in embarrassment. “R-Really? I’m totally hyped to get our results, though!”

I then spotted two extroverted girls who looked like they wanted to talk to Runa, so I decided to head back to my desk.

“How about we go home together later?” I asked before leaving—just in case.

Runa looked to be at a loss. “Umm, sorry...”

Figures. Oh well, we’ll see each other on Sunday, so I’ll have to be satisfied with that.

“Okay,” I replied. “Let me take care of that for you at least.”

As I reached out toward her, Runa looked confused. “Huh?”

“The bottle. You’re done with it, right? I’ll throw it out on my way.”

“Oh, uh... Y-You can’t!” Runa then quickly clutched the empty bottle of Oronamin C to her chest like it was something precious.

“Huh?”

“I-I need to take it home...”

“An empty bottle? Are you going to use it for something?”

“‘Use’?!”

Runa turned completely red in an instant.

Figuring that she was just embarrassed for some reason that someone found out she had planned to reuse an empty bottle, I searched for what to say here.

“Ah, I’m guessing you want to put a flower in it like a vase? That’s nice. I’ve seen that kind of thing at my grandma’s place, making it seem less lived-in and like people don’t actually live there. Taking the label off makes it seem new and unused.”

At that, Runa calmed down somewhat. “Y-Yeah... That’s right. Okay, I’ll go wash it out!”

That certainly was a good idea if she wanted to take it home. It would make sure her bag didn’t get dirty.

Runa headed to the hallway in a half run, bottle in hand. The extroverted girls who’d been waiting to talk to her chased after her.

Now alone, I headed to my desk when suddenly...

“Hey, Kashima-kun!”

Tanikita-san had appeared in front of me, but her expression was unusually grim.

“Wh-What’s going on, Tanikita-san?”

The last time she’d looked like this was when she’d suspected Runa had a sugar daddy.

Tanikita-san glanced over to the corridor and spoke quietly. “Okay, so, Runy might actually be cheating this time.” After having said just the sort of thing I’d expect her to say with that expression on her face, she beckoned to me. “Let’s go to the balcony so nobody hears us.”

“O-Okay...”

When we stepped outside, Tanikita-san looked around again. The weather was still cold in the middle of March, so despite the clear skies, I couldn’t see any other students out here at such an odd hour.

“Hasn’t Runy been acting kinda weird recently?”

Her words caught me off guard a bit.

I did think the whole talk of Runa cheating was another one of Tanikita-san’s misunderstandings, but Runa’s recent behavior had been bothering me. She was almost constantly busy with something even though we were on a school break after our exams, and she’d been acting strange with that bottle of Oronamin C earlier too...

“Do you know anything, Tanikita-san?” I asked.

She shook her head forcefully. “Not a thing! I say we tail her!”

“Whaaat?!”

I hadn’t seen that coming.

“You’re coming too! Even if I found evidence of her cheating, you wouldn’t just take my word for it, would you?”

“Eh...?”

“You didn’t believe me when I said she might have a sugar daddy either! But I’m glad that was just a misunderstanding, though.” Finishing her grumbling, Tanikita-san looked at me. “So, are you coming or not?!”

“Huh?”

“DO IT!” she yelled.

After her random shout, I somehow ended up agreeing to tail my beloved girlfriend after school before I even knew it.

***

“Runy’s been so mean lately. She keeps turning me down. Remember when we went to Shibuya and she promised to wear a cosplay that I made? Well, I borrowed some from a friend right away, but when I asked her on LINE about when she had time, she said she’s not gonna be free until our school trip. How awful is that? And so when I ask her what’s got her so busy, she just says ‘stuff!’ I think I’ve said this before, but Runy never ever tells me anything important. Like, when Mia came to our school? Nikki seemed to already know that she was Runy’s sister, and she knew about Runy dating you too. I only found out when the rest of the class found out, you know? I get it that Nikki’s her best friend, but frankly, aren’t we close enough too? I’m supposed to be her second or third best friend! At least that’s how I see us. But this is the treatment I get. Awful, no? Whatcha think, huh? As her boyfriend and all.”

As we made our way to the train station from school, Tanikita-san let out a barrage of complaints about Runa.

“S-Sorry, I guess...”

“Huh? I’m not looking for an apology from you. You’re her boyfriend, not her dad. Though I’m not sure how I’d feel if her dad apologized to me instead... Anyway, I’m just asking what you think of her being like that, since you’re together.”

“Well, what can I say...?”

Sure, there were times when Runa acted in ways that seemed rash to me, but I knew she had her reasons. Besides, I also knew that Runa valued Tanikita-san as a friend, so even if she had kept something a secret, I didn’t see it as Runa neglecting her friend. Even if she kept something secret from me, our relationship was built on enough trust for me to be certain that she wasn’t cheating on me or anything.

That surely wasn’t the kind of reply Tanikita-san was looking for, though.

“I don’t know...” I said instead. “It’s not like I know the relationship between you two all that well, anyway...”

“Huh? So, what, you’re saying I’m lying?”

“N-No, but, like, we can’t really know the truth until we hear what she has to say about this...” I countered.

“You know we’re tailing her because she refuses to say anything, right? And besides, there’s no other way for us to know unless she tells us. Like how I didn’t know that the new girl was her sister or that she got a boyfriend.”

“Y-Yeah, I guess so...”

“You know that much and are still reacting that way?” she asked. “You’re really not the type to rock the boat, huh.”

This is so tiring!

If a girl like Tanikita-san was my girlfriend, would she give me hell every time something unpleasant happened? I didn’t know if things were ever going to get any better between Tanikita-san and Icchi, but I was getting worried about him already.

Actually, what if this talkativeness of hers was the reason that Runa kept important things secret from Tanikita-san in the first place? I began to suspect that more and more by the minute.

As for Runa herself, she was walking alone at the edge of my vision. I’d thought tailing her would involve us hiding behind utility poles and stuff like that, but she wasn’t showing any signs of turning around at all. Instead, she seemed to be hurrying somewhere, so Tanikita-san and I were simply walking in the same direction as her.

“I’m not sure we should be tailing her like this, Tanikita-san...”

“Ah, Runy’s at the station. She’s gonna get on the train that’s coming now. Let’s run for it, Kashima-kun!”

“Huh?!”

As Runa disappeared behind the ticket gates, Tanikita-san suddenly broke out into a sprint. Chasing after her small figure, I once again felt sympathy for any boyfriend she might have in the future.

***

Since we’d run, we had managed to board the same train as Runa without issue. It was the usual train she’d take to Station A, the stop closest to Runa’s house.

However...

“She’s not getting off, huh.”

Even when the train arrived at Station A, Runa stayed inside the car. Tanikita-san and I could see that from the area next to the farthest door of an adjacent car where we stood.

As I wondered where she was headed, she got off at the next stop without hesitation. It was Station K—the one closest to my home.

“Does Runy need something around here?” asked Tanikita-san.

“Who knows...? It doesn’t look like she’s going to see me, at least...”

“Oh, this is close to where you live?”

We climbed the stairs, chasing after Runa. She had just passed the ticket gates.

“She’s headed in the direction of my place...” I remarked, seeing which way she was going.

After leaving the ticket gates, she turned right, passed through a roundabout, and headed toward the shopping district next to the station. There was no hesitation in her steps as she briskly walked through the streets that I knew very well.

Then, she stopped at a certain place with a stylish white exterior. The European-style sign read “Patisserie Champs de Fleurs” in cursive. If I hadn’t been familiar with it already, I probably wouldn’t have been able to read it.

“This place...”

“But I like the cakes your mom always serves us.”

I remembered Runa having talked about cakes from this shop near where I lived.

She opened the door and went inside. As I watched her through the glass, she then opened a door with a sign that read “Staff” and disappeared behind it.

Looking over to Tanikita-san beside me, I saw her standing there with her mouth hanging open.

“Oh...” she said, as if her strength had left her. “C’mon, Runy, if you got a part-time job, why didn’t you just say so?!” She looked a bit indignant, but then she did a one-eighty and her expression morphed into one of relief instead. “Well, I’ll be going, then. Oh yeah, I gotta catch up to someone I ran into in front of the station earlier!”

With that, Tanikita-san left like the wind, leaving me by myself.

“Uh, oh...”

Not even getting a chance to say goodbye, I stood there, dumbfounded. Once again, Tanikita-san had made me do all kinds of things and then disappeared. Though I supposed I could consider this as part of me simply going home.

Anyway... Runa, of all people, got a part-time job? And it’s in my area too.

Everything was pointing at it, but it was extremely hard to believe. I stood absentmindedly near the shop for a while.

Then, a door on the side of the shop opened up and Runa appeared. This staff entrance faced a rented parking lot next to the building. I’d been standing next to the parking lot, so upon seeing her, I was caught off guard and drew close to the shop’s glass wall.

“Ah, hey, Nicole.”

Runa seemed to be on the phone. It was safe to say that the person on the other end of the line was Yamana-san.

While she wasn’t looking my way, I moved over to the parking lot’s sign and crouched behind it. My reasoning was that I lived in the direction of the parking lot anyway, and it was better to wait to leave until Runa left. Sure, Tanikita-san had forced me to come here, but I still felt guilty for tailing Runa and didn’t want to run into her now—whatever her reasons for keeping the job a secret might have been.

“Yeah, it’s all good. You haven’t started work yet today, right? Let’s talk for a bit... Yeah, I came here at top speed to make sure nobody from school saw me, so it’s still way before my shift starts. I asked if I could start early and was told to rest until it was time.”

I could hear Runa’s cheerful, resounding voice even without straining my ears.

“Yep. I can’t work any shifts next week because we’re going on that school trip, though, you know? And I just started this job too. I feel bad, so I wanna work as much as I can this week to make up for it.”

Evidently, this was what had kept Runa so busy this week.

“It’s totes fine! I wanna get Ryuto a great birthday present!”

Hearing that, I realized my birthday was indeed coming up at the end of this month. Between all the different events in my life like our exams, White Day, and the school trip, I’d forgotten about it, but Runa had remembered. I must’ve told her the date at some point.

“I’m sure he’ll be surprised! I can’t wait! He doesn’t know I’m working, so there’s no way he’s gonna expect an awesome present.”

I involuntarily peeked over the sign.

Runa was blushing and had a happy smile on her face. “I wonder if it’ll make him happy...”

Was she making such a face because she imagined how happy I would look? The very thought of it filled me with love for her.

“Oh, seriously? Yeah, I guess I’ll go get lunch or something. A coworker said there were some pieces of cake left. ’Kay, bye!”

Saying all that in a hurry, Runa tapped on her phone. It appeared that her call with Yamana-san was over. Then, she went back inside.

Gazing at the staff entrance, I stood there filled with emotion for a while.

Runa got a part-time job. She wanted the money to buy me a birthday present and she’s been keeping that a secret.

Now that I knew this, my pent-up feelings from recent days cleared up. It was like the pieces of a puzzle fitting together.

“So that’s what it was...” I said, a smile naturally appearing on my face.

I wanted to watch Runa work, but if I kept hanging around here and stared at the shop, in the worst-case scenario someone might report me even if Runa didn’t notice. So, I had to give up.

Runa is so cute. I love her so much.

I was hungry since I’d left school before noon, but my steps were light as I walked my usual route home. With the bright sun of noon in March shining down on me, I was happy.

There was one remaining mystery, however.

“Wait... So what was that Oronamin C bottle for in the end? She doesn’t need it for work, right...?”

***

And so, Sunday came, along with White Day.

Runa and I met up at a local shopping mall after 3 p.m. We were going to watch a movie at the movie theater on the top floor.

“Sorry for the wait, Ryuto...”

When Runa showed up at the entrance to the theater, she looked shy. Her cheeks were red.

“Sorry for the wait, Ryuto!”

Normally, she would’ve come running with a huge smile on her face and full of energy. But that wasn’t so important.

The most different thing about her today was...

“Are those the clothes you bought the other day?” I asked.

Runa was wearing a white blouse with ribbons and frills along with a similarly frilly pink miniskirt. I didn’t remember what the brand was called, but this was one of the outfits Tanikita-san had put together for her in Shibuya.

“Y-Yeah... Does it look weird?”

“No. It suits you well.”

Honestly, these clothes were a bit unusual—they felt more like cosplay. Right now, the looks Runa was getting from others were different, seeming to be from curiosity, but the outfit undeniably suited her. She was emanating a feeling of being from a different world, much like what a professional cosplayer could produce.

“Wh-What do you think?” she asked.

I’d already told her that her clothes suited her, but she kept glancing at me and fidgeting.

Is there...something specific she wants me to say?

In that case...

“Y-You look cute.”

I ended up saying that a bit quietly out of awkwardness. After all, such a uniquely fashionable gyaru had a guy like me, with generic clothes and a generic face, as her boyfriend. Minding the eyes around us, I couldn’t be all sweet with her in public.